Sara E. Rice was born around 1858 in Connecticut to Lemuel and Caroline Rice. Her father was a farmer who owned $6,000 of real estate by 1850. Her father died on October 12, 1858, and her mother died on February 13, 1864. She grew up in the household of Thomas and Mary Jinks in Westfield, Massachusetts.
She married Charles H. Keeney on November 9, 1881, and they had at least six children: Bertha, born around 1883; Howard, born around 1885; Ethel, born around 1887; Raymond, born around 1889; Mabel, born around 1890; and Lemuel, borna round 1895. They lived in Melrose, Massachusetts, and her husband worked as a printing house manager. She died in 1929.